State Department of Health Services v. Superior Court

Opinion

KENNARD, J.

California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (Gov. Code, § 12900 et seq.)1 (the FEHA) prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace. At issue here is whether, under the FEHA, an employer is strictly liable for hostile environment sexual harassment by a supervisor and whether the damages a plaintiff may recover from the employer in such a case include damages that the plaintiff could have avoided by reporting incidents of harassment to the employer.

We conclude that an employer is strictly liable under the FEHA for sexual harassment by a supervisor. We further conclude that the…